a journal of discovery, conviction, and walking with the poor and orphaned of Rwanda

Thursday, April 4, 2013

For a cause

We should each ask: For what am I living? To really live – and not merely exist – requires fully embracing a worthy cause for which one would give up their life. If I lack such a passionate commitment, I am merely another cow in the pasture, taking up space, consuming, and making a mess.

That being said, it is equally noteworthy that "The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." Wilhelm Stekel, quoted by J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye.

Let us live humbly yet passionately, "intentionally," with purpose and meaning.

Followers

Link to Bridge2Rwanda

Not About Me

I am reluctant to do the Bio thing. Nothing "about me" should be the focus here, except as this open journal may resonate with (or provoke) your own thoughts. But I offer this much: After 30 years as an attorney, I am now a typical Halftimer who is determined to move beyond success to significance. Inspired and convicted by three sons (Tommy, Nathan & Wesley) who live passionate and adventurous lives, I am now privileged to participate in the exciting social changes and development occurring in Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa, hoping to empower the desperately poor. But I must be very clear on this: I am just your average coward. Suffering and sacrifice are very foreign concepts to me. However, I now believe that life comfortably ensconced in a safe cocoon misses out on too much of what might be learned, experienced, and shared with others in the Majority World, many of whom are crying out in desperate need, and some of whom beam with smiles and contentment such as I have seldom seen. I want to know them and their lives.